Opening 5 Feb 2015
Directed by:
Andy Wachowski
Writing credits:
Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Principal actors:
Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, Douglas Booth
So far, the most popular profession of patriarchal affiliation in science fiction has been the much repeated “Luke, I am your father” in Star Wars. In Jupiter Ascending, the matriarchal rebuttal “I am not your goddam mother!” will show us what science fiction is like in the 3rd millennium.
While simple family problems in “good versus evil” were enough in the past, the Wachowskis added their signature theme of karmic entanglement into the mixture. This is why Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), our heroine, will be able to embark into an incredible space journey once she learns that, contrary to her belief, she is not a janitor maid. It turns out that she is the reincarnation of the head of some galactic dynasty of entrepreneurs, and as such, entitled to inherit her former title of alien queen. Her (now former) heirs are not amused with mother’s rebirth though, which is why her children Balem (Eddie Redmayne),Titus (Douglas Booth) and Kalique (Tuppence Middleton) each have their own agenda with Jupiter and start chasing her.
From now on, we are in for a fast-paced ride through a mash-up of our favorite genre movies, as in Star Wars, meets Lord of the Rings, meets Harry Potter meets the X-Files. While all this could have gone very wrong, it worked very well for me – it was just all there. As a minor complaint, I could have done without the instantaneous love story between “mary-janish” Jupiter and her protector Caine (Channing Tatum). A less complicated plot would have helped as well. But all in all, this movie was just an opulent space opera that I would not mind seeing again just for the visual entertainment. (Katia Trost)
